The Flesh Prevails

I remember when I first heard the band Fallujah, it was about a year ago when I heard their Nomadic EP, I had thought it was a pretty good short album, with some good moments, but that was about it. I'm really not a fan of new "tech" death metal, where all the bands kind of sound the same and fall into the category of monotony. However this band did leave a good taste in my mouth, so when I heard that they were releasing their second album this year, I waited with interest to hear it.

Well the response that I can give it is extremely warm and praiseworthy. Each song packs quite a punch in terms of beauty and brutality. Each member of this band comes together in quite a cohesive manner and the result is this great album. I also find that this album, does not fall into the extreme metal paradox of monotony and not being able to distinguish between tracks. Each song on this album has it's own sound, and variety.

Although this album has most of it's roots in the technical death metal genre, there are definitely moments where it ventures into other genres. There is some deathcore, but not horrible, brainless, deathcore that seems to infect the genre, the positive aspects of the genre are used and not "over"used. There is also a hint of progressive in the music where the songs will keep building upon itself and change itself midway through with some ethereal male and female vocals that are used very tastefully. Last but not least i can hear a clear influence from shoegaze in some of the guitar lines that seem to sound like they came off of a My Bloody Valentine, or Slowdive album where they decided to give extreme metal a try.

The vocalist is a typical death metal/deathcore vocalist, but does not come off as contrived, or redundant, each vocal line is delivered with power and emotion whether it's his growl, or occasional rasp. The guitarists as said before are very well played on this record. Although there is some "noodling" that can be heard, this noodling is not the 'holy shit this is fucking boring" noodling, the guitars seem to ravel the listener and unravel their ears in an instant, keeping him/her hooked on every riff and solo. The bass is audible (awesome!) and is played very well. The drums blast through the album at light speed and give the listener a treat with great fills. There is also a great deal of programming, and synth work on this album which give the album an angelic, ethereal atmosphere that really set the tone for the album's sound along with the beautiful cover art which as said before is a duality between beauty and brutality.

Concluding this review I will say that there is no reason why someone who loves progressive metal, or modern tech death should not own this album. It's a great record filled with fresh ideas in a genre that seems to be running very low on them. Everything about this record is great and have something for everyone to enjoy. Hopefully this band keeps on going in their evolution and keeps on trying to perfect their musical ideas. I can honestly say that this album was well worth the listen and will be cherished as one of this years best releases.